Kineo vs Total Synergy
Kineo and Total Synergy both run projects, time, and invoicing for engineering and architecture firms. Total Synergy covers resource allocation, revenue forecasting, and document control, with revision tracking, approval workflows, transmittals, and an Inbox Assistant that files project email. Kineo reviews drawings against your firm's checklists, drafts each phase invoice from the contract with QuickBooks Online as the ledger, and lets its assistant, your automations, and Claude or ChatGPT work on the same project records.
Free for 14 days, with every feature included.
- Compared
- Kineo and Total Synergy
- Published by
- Kineo
- Total Synergy details
- Checked October 2026
Which one fits your firm
Choose Total Synergy if you want
- Resource allocation and revenue forecasting across the firm
- A document register for drawings, documents, and email, with automatic revision tracking, approval workflows, transmittals, and a record of what was sent and downloaded
- Unfiled project email reviewed and filed to the project automatically by Inbox Assistant
- Document workspaces in SharePoint and Microsoft Teams
- Accounting connections to Xero, MYOB AccountRight Live, QuickBooks Online, Sage, or Wiise
- Optional add-ons for HR, CRM, deeper analytics, and an API
Choose Kineo if you want
- An email address for each project, client, and contact, with imported mail feeding suggestions and automations
- Automations you describe in plain language, like drafting a change order when a client asks for extra work
- An assistant that drafts and edits project records, in Kineo or from Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code
- Drawing reviews against your firm's checklists, with each markup filed under the item it answers and outside reviewers by link
- Phase invoices from the contract with retainage and a G703-style continuation sheet, synced with QuickBooks Online
- Published per-seat pricing with every feature on every plan, and a free trial you can start today
Kineo and Total Synergy side by side
Each product described in its own terms, from its website and documentation.
| Job | Kineo | Total Synergy |
|---|---|---|
| Email, documents, and drawings | ||
| Project email | An address for each project, client, and contact, from any email provider. Someone on the team checks the sender and imports each message, and Kineo reads it, links it to the project, and suggests tasks and comments. Automations watching the inbox can draft change orders and proposals. | Inbox Assistant automatically reviews unfiled emails and files them to the project, so project correspondence is stored in one place. |
| Documents and drawings | Drawing sets and documents on each project, with tasks, checklist reviews, files, and history, and a board by document stage. | Project documents, drawings, and emails in one register with automatic revision tracking. Drawing sets, including AutoCAD, Revit, and Bluebeam PDFs, are tied to the project. |
| Review and approval | Reviews against your firm's checklists, routed by review workflows with reminders. Each markup is filed under the checklist item it answers, each item gets a decision, and a markup can become a task. Outside reviewers join by emailed link. | Approval workflows for documents and drawings. |
| Sharing outside the firm | Clients, agencies, and consultants review drawings through an emailed link, with the same markup tools and checklist as your team and no account or seat. | Transmittals, a record of which files were sent and downloaded, and project workspaces in SharePoint and Teams. |
| Projects and time | ||
| Starting a project | An accepted proposal creates the client, the project, and its contract from the proposal's fee lines. | Budgets and quotes prepared in Total Synergy. |
| Time | Weekly timesheets with approval. The assistant can enter a week of time from a description. | Time tracking on each project. |
| Billing | ||
| Invoicing | Drafted by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, with retainage and a G703-style continuation sheet. Someone on the team issues and sends each one. | Invoice processing. |
| Accounting | QuickBooks Online stays the ledger. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo. | A QuickBooks Online connection, among its accounting connections. |
| Buying | ||
| Price | $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan. | Prices come from a quote, with Synergy PIM, HR, CRM, Insights, and Premium API as optional add-ons. |
Email, documents, and drawings
Project email
- Kineo
- An address for each project, client, and contact, from any email provider. Someone on the team checks the sender and imports each message, and Kineo reads it, links it to the project, and suggests tasks and comments. Automations watching the inbox can draft change orders and proposals.
- Total Synergy
- Inbox Assistant automatically reviews unfiled emails and files them to the project, so project correspondence is stored in one place.
Documents and drawings
- Kineo
- Drawing sets and documents on each project, with tasks, checklist reviews, files, and history, and a board by document stage.
- Total Synergy
- Project documents, drawings, and emails in one register with automatic revision tracking. Drawing sets, including AutoCAD, Revit, and Bluebeam PDFs, are tied to the project.
Review and approval
- Kineo
- Reviews against your firm's checklists, routed by review workflows with reminders. Each markup is filed under the checklist item it answers, each item gets a decision, and a markup can become a task. Outside reviewers join by emailed link.
- Total Synergy
- Approval workflows for documents and drawings.
Sharing outside the firm
- Kineo
- Clients, agencies, and consultants review drawings through an emailed link, with the same markup tools and checklist as your team and no account or seat.
- Total Synergy
- Transmittals, a record of which files were sent and downloaded, and project workspaces in SharePoint and Teams.
Projects and time
Starting a project
- Kineo
- An accepted proposal creates the client, the project, and its contract from the proposal's fee lines.
- Total Synergy
- Budgets and quotes prepared in Total Synergy.
Time
- Kineo
- Weekly timesheets with approval. The assistant can enter a week of time from a description.
- Total Synergy
- Time tracking on each project.
Billing
Invoicing
- Kineo
- Drafted by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, with retainage and a G703-style continuation sheet. Someone on the team issues and sends each one.
- Total Synergy
- Invoice processing.
Accounting
- Kineo
- QuickBooks Online stays the ledger. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo.
- Total Synergy
- A QuickBooks Online connection, among its accounting connections.
Buying
Price
- Kineo
- $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan.
- Total Synergy
- Prices come from a quote, with Synergy PIM, HR, CRM, Insights, and Premium API as optional add-ons.
Give every project, client, and contact its own email address
Total Synergy's Inbox Assistant reviews unfiled emails and files them to the project, so project correspondence is kept in one place.
Forward or copy mail to a project's, client's, or contact's own address from any email account, so each message comes in addressed to the work it's about.
When someone on your team imports a message, Kineo reads it and its attachments, files it under the project, and, where suggestions are turned on, suggests the tasks and comments it asks for. Automations watching the inbox can draft the change order or proposal a client asks for and create a task for the project manager to check it. Every imported message also lands in one inbox for the whole firm.
Review drawings against your firm's checklists, with outside reviewers by link
Total Synergy's document control keeps drawings, documents, and email on the project, with automatic revision tracking, approval workflows, transmittals, and a record of which files were sent and downloaded.
Kineo's drawing reviews run against your firm's own checklists. Each markup is filed under the checklist item it answers, and each item gets a decision. Review workflows route each set to its reviewers, with reminders, and a markup can become a task for the person revising the sheet. Clients, agencies, and consultants review through an emailed link with the same drawings, markup tools, and checklist as your team, without an account or a seat.
Describe an automation in plain language and see each step before it runs
Pick what to watch, such as a project's inbox, an invoice, or a phase, then write when to act and what to do. Kineo lays out the steps as you type. Automations start when an email is imported, when something happens in Kineo, on an hourly check during the workday, or when you run them by hand.
They draft proposals, contracts, change orders, invoices, and credit notes, create tasks, and email the people on your team you choose. Drafts wait for someone with permission to review them, and if a step fails, the steps that succeeded are kept so you can retry the rest.
Work on Kineo from Claude, ChatGPT, or Claude Code
Kineo runs an MCP server. MCP is the open standard assistants use to connect to other software. Each person signs in with their Kineo account, and the assistant gets the same tools as Kineo's own, within that person's permissions. It can read a project's email, check the phases and fee lines on its contract, draft a change order or the month's invoice, record a payment, and enter a week of time.
In Claude Code, run claude mcp add --transport http kineo https://app.gokineo.com/mcp, then sign in from /mcp.
Bill each phase from the contract, with retainage and QuickBooks Online
When a client accepts a proposal, its fee lines become the contract. Kineo drafts each invoice by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, withholds retainage where the contract calls for it, and adds a G703-style continuation sheet to the PDF. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync with QuickBooks Online, which stays your ledger.
When extra work is agreed, an approved change order adjusts the contract's fee lines or phase budgets from its effective date, and the next invoice drafts from the updated contract.
What each costs
Kineo
- Team: $29 per seat per month, or $290 per seat per year
- Team Plus: $49 per seat per month, or $490 per seat per year
- Team Pro: $79 per seat per month, or $790 per seat per year
- Every feature on every plan, with more assistant usage and storage on Team Plus and Team Pro
- Outside reviewers and client portal contacts free, without a seat
- A 14-day free trial, then monthly or annual billing
Total Synergy
- Prices come from a quote
- Synergy PIM, for document and email management, is an optional add-on
- HR, CRM, Insights for deeper analytics, and Premium API are also optional add-ons
Total Synergy's add-ons come from its website, checked October 2026. Ask which document control features your quote includes and which come with Synergy PIM. Kineo's prices are in US dollars.
Try Kineo on one project while you keep Total Synergy
Run one current project in Kineo for a billing cycle, with Total Synergy still running the rest of the firm, and compare the results with the people who'll use it.
- 1
Set up one project
Add a current project with its client, contract, and phases, and invite the people working on it.
- 2
Send it real email
Turn on the project's email address and forward it the next client request.
- 3
Write one automation
Describe one routine job, such as drafting a change order when a client asks for extra work.
- 4
Review the next drawing set
Route it through your checklist, with an outside reviewer if the project has one.
- 5
Bill the month
Draft the invoice and have your billing lead compare it with the one Total Synergy produces.
Questions about Kineo and Total Synergy
Sources
Total Synergy's details come from its own website and documentation, checked October 2026. Products change, so confirm anything that matters to your decision with Total Synergy.
More comparisons
Try Kineo on a project you're working on now
Set up a project with its contract and phases, invite your team, and give the assistant some of the routine work. Your first 14 days are free, with every feature included.